$1.3 million Department of Transportation Research Contract Awarded

CEIE Dewberry Professor Emeritus Dr. Mike Bronzini, newly-appointed research professor Dr. K.T. Thirumalai, and CEIE associate professor Dr. Mohan Venigalla have been awarded a two-year $1.3 million research contract to evaluate the advantages of diverting freight movement along the I-95 corridor from highways to inland and coastal waterways (Short Sea Shipping). Short sea shipping has been practiced for several decades in Europe. The potential advantages of short sea shipping include reduced congestion in highways, reduced emissions and fuel use for moving freight, and reduced environmental stress on highway infrastructure. The research will produce guidelines and evaluation tools for shipping operators, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, and state and local transportation engineers who will implement these system. The George Mason University Consortium research partners in the project are GeoEye, Inc., in Herndon VA; CSC Advanced Marine Center in Washington DC; Rutgers University in NJ; the German Aerospace Center in Berlin; the Virginia Department of Transportation; and the I-95 Corridor Coalition.